Good things ahead for Duke, Carolina McDonald’s All-Americans

Duke and North Carolina were well-represented in this year’s McDonald’s High School All-American Game in Chicago.

Blue Devils’ signee Frank Jackson won co-MVP of the game and was the slam dunk champion. Jayson Tatum, who scored 18 points, is also headed to Duke.

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Tony Bradley scored 11 points in the game.

What’s in store for the three players now? A total of 141 McDonald’s All-Americans have gone to Duke or UNC before Jackson, Tatum and Bradley. They scored a total of 143,918 points in college, or an average of 1,021 points per McDonald’s All-American.

That doesn’t mean that the three graduating seniors are guaranteed a successful career. Here’s a look at the McDonald’s All-Americans who scored the fewest points at Duke:

Player              Duke Points

Eric Boateng               14

Joey Beard                  21

Michael Thompson      27

Chase Jeter                  62 (so far)

And here are the McDonald’s alumni who did the least with the Tar Heels:

Player              UNC Points

Neil Fingleton             0

David Wear                 79

Vasco Evtimov           105

Travis Wear                 111

Clearly, transfer is the main reason that a player didn’t score well with the Heels or Devils. Overall, the odds are low that Jackson, Bradley or Tatum will transfer during their college years. A total of 15 Duke and Carolina McDonald’s players chose to transfer, giving them 10.6 percent odds of transferring. Duke (12.7%) has a slightly higher McDonald’s transfer rate than Carolina (8.6%).

The three incoming freshmen are more than twice as likely to leave early for the NBA Draft. Duke and Carolina have had 39 McDonald’s All-Americans give up some college eligibility, which is better than one-in-four odds (27.7%). Carolina (34.3%) is more likely to have players leave early than Duke (21.1%).

Of the 141 McDonald’s All-Americans at the two schools, nearly half (69, or 48.9%) scored more than 1,000 points in college. Eleven (7.8%) scored 2,000. More than half (55%) of the Carolina players and 42% of Duke players scored 1,000.

Two in five McDonald’s signees ended up winning a national title at Duke (43.7%) or Carolina (37.1%), and exactly the same number ended up being selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Just under half (47.1%) of Carolina McDonald’s players became first-rounders, while 33.8% of Duke’s signees did.

While the odds in favor of the three incoming freshmen, it’s worth noting that the McDonald’s selection process is far from an exact science. Shelden Williams (1,928 points) and Rick Fox (1,703 points) were the Duke and Carolina players who scored the most collegiate points after being snubbed by the McDonald’s game.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *